Nightmare
by TheLordismyGod
Summary: 5 year old Sherman has a nightmare and Mr. Peabody comforts him.


**So I tried a different writing style this time, really only in the first half though, you can tell when I regress back into my normal style. Not too sure how well I did. Also it's weird but I never thought I'd like the hurt/comfort genre so much. :P Anyways, enjoy**

* * *

 _They say dreams are made of real life, which will be partly true, at least for the little boy we are about to talk about…._

He suddenly found himself in the middle of a forest with no idea of how he got there. But he didn't question that, somehow he knew he was supposed to be here….for what purpose he didn't yet know.

The forest stretched for miles in every direction, as far as he could see. He was standing in a clearing in the forest with one trail leading out of it, the trees making a sort of archway through it. There was a thin layer of snow on the ground but he didn't feel cold, wasn't shivering as one would expect. As he looked around he noticed the trees, they were swaying in the wind, which was blowing them gently to and fro. He couldn't feel the wind either. It was completely silent. " _That's odd_ " the boy thought. As he took in more details about the trees he noticed they didn't have leaves on them. They were completely bare.

As he kept turning around a sound met his ears, a panting, raspy sound. It was coming from all around him except for the trail leading out. As he froze on the spot and looked through the darkness of the trees he could see eyes…. yellow eyes. He gasped and stood rooted to the spot, heart pounding in his chest. As the eyes drew nearer he could make out their forms, the nose came first, and then the face, mouths bared with sharp teeth showing, long sleek faces with sunken yellow eyes that could only belong to creatures of another world. Their bodies came next. Skin and bones, their brown, almost black tattered fur clinging to their ribs like lifelines. Long, thin legs ending in paws that held long, sharp claws. _WOLVES_. They began to growl. The noise threatening to overwhelm his ears.

He had one thought: _RUN_

He flung himself toward the trail and began running as fast as his little legs could carry him. He heard them behind him, barking and growling and snapping. He wanted to be gone, out of here. He screamed into the wind, hoping someone would hear him. He kept running, he didn't know how but he wasn't getting tired, but he didn't question it. He remembered something… a name…that should be able to help him. Mr. Peabody. He knew that name. He shouted it into the wind "Mr. Peabody help!" and continued to scream. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he continued running and shouting the name. That name should be able to help him. He knew it somehow, it should be able to-

He tripped. He must've caught his foot in a root sticking out. He fell face forward into the snow. He quickly got up and tried running again but found he couldn't, and fell again, a numb pain shooting up his left leg as he did so.

" _Sherman!_ "

The voice pierced his head like lightning, but it didn't hurt, in fact it was almost comforting, but not as much as the smell that met his nose moments later.

He knew that smell. It somehow brought him immense comfort. He felt like nothing could hurt him now. He drank it in.

He quickly turned around. The wolves were almost upon him. One had separated from the others and was slowly walking up to him, fangs bared. He whimpered and quickly tried backing up but it was futile, his back hit a tree. He was stuck. As he watched the lone wolf draw nearer he noticed its fur begin to turn pure white, starting from its tail (which got shorter) and begin to creep up its body. Its legs got shorter, claws retracted. The transformation reached its head and it started changing, its forehead got taller, snout longer. Eyes changed from a dull yellow to a bright jade green and weren't so sunken into the face. It reached the wolf's nose and the boy gasped in horror as he finally recognized it.

He knew this creature, he LOVED this creature. But…..it wouldn't hurt him, would it? He thought. Why? Why was it here now?

"Mr. Peabody!" he shouted. The dog didn't answer, it simply kept growling and advancing on him….

He put his arms up to shield his face, crying, betrayed and heartbroken. He never thought that the person he thought would save him would be the one to kill him….

The dog lunged-

SHERMAN!

* * *

In a penthouse overlooking Central Park a beagle dog lay in bed, sleeping soundly. Suddenly the silence was broken by a blood curdling scream.

"Ahhh! Mr. Peabody help!"

Mr. Peabody gasped as he woke up. He quickly got up, forgoing his normal bow tie and glasses to run to his young redheaded adopted human son's room.

He face pawed as he ran " _Peabody you should NOT have read the Hound of the Baskervilles to a five year old child, especially before bed, along with losing control and growling and snapping like a regular dog when he broke that ancient Egyptian vase with his ball this morning. I'll have to work on my meditation some more_ " he thought. He reached the door to Sherman's bedroom and flung it open and turned the light on. Sherman lay on his bed, thrashing and screaming. He watched as Sherman fell off the bed, bringing his blankets with him. His left leg stuck between the mattress and the bedframe.

"Sherman!" Peabody yelled as he ran up to him and fell to his knees. He removed Sherman's leg from the bedframe and shook him, trying to wake him up, but he didn't wake. Sherman wasn't thrashing anymore. He was crying and shaking and whimpering. Suddenly he yelled "Mr. Peabody!" again and put his arms up to his face.

"SHERMAN!" Mr. Peabody yelled again.

* * *

Suddenly the boy realized he wasn't dead, he was alive. And he wasn't in the forest anymore. He was lying down on a hard surface. He removed his arms from his face. The dog was still there, sitting in front of him. He reacted. He whimpered again and put his arms up onto his face. But then reality came crashing down and he realized where he was.

Mr. Peabody gasped. Sherman had recoiled from him.

" _Sherman is… scared of me?"_ But that thought was immediately disproved by Sherman's next action.

Sherman yelled "Mr. Peabody!" as he flung himself into Peabody's chest, arms wrapped around him, sobs wracking his small frame. Mr. Peabody didn't know what to do in this situation, so he decided that the best thing to do would be to wait until Sherman had calmed down, and then maybe he could explain what in the world he had dreamed about that had gotten him so scared. He wrapped one paw around Sherman's back as he stroked Sherman's hair with the other, 'shh'ing him whenever he whimpered.

Sherman leaned into Peabody's white furred chest; that smell from his dream overwhelming him now, giving him immense comfort, this was Mr. Peabody's scent, his dog smell, he had known it since before he could remember. His soft fur in his nose threatened to make him sneeze. He was safe, he was sure about that now, and absolutely nothing could harm him, not with his father, Mr. Peabody around.

"Sherman?" Peabody ventured.

Sherman sniffed, wiped his nose and leaned back to look Peabody in the eyes, eyes that were a stark contrast to the ones from his dream. Those had held nothing but hate. These held a few different emotions, worry, concern, fear.

"I had a really scary dream" Sherman finally spoke.

"What happened in your dream?" Peabody asked.

"I was in a forest and then wolves came and then I was running and then tripped and then one was going to eat me and…. and it looked like you!" The words came spilling out and he broke into a fresh set of sobs as he buried his face into Peabody's furry chest once more.

Peabody tried to process what he had just been told. " _Dreams are strange_ " He thought. " _I don't even know where to begin_ "

He didn't know what to say so he simply went with:

"It's okay Sherman, you're safe, you're here now and I would never, ever hurt you… I promise"

Peabody felt Sherman calming down again, sobs becoming small hiccups that then finally faded away. He finally felt like Sherman was calm enough to talk about his dream some more when his grip on Mr. Peabody tightened and he yelled "Please don't send me back!"

Peabody couldn't believe his ears. " _Where did that come from?_ "

"Send you back?! Back where? What are you talking about Sherman?"

"Back to the orphanage! I'm sorry I broke the vase this morning, I thought you were angry in my dream because of that and that you would send me back! Please don't send me back, I don't have anyone else, you're the only family I have!"

Peabody disengaged Sherman's hold on him and took his face in his paws and faced it squarely so he could look Sherman straight in the eyes.

"Sherman listen to me….I will never send you back. No matter what you break, when you disobey rules, or anything else. You know why?"

Sherman shook his head.

He got an idea. "Here, I'll show you. Come on" he said.

He picked Sherman up and carried him bridal style out the door of his bedroom. As he walked down the hall he looked down at Sherman and smiled. "You are the only family I have too, you know, and I wouldn't want anyone else as family" he said as he nuzzled Sherman in the stomach with his nose. Sherman laughed and giggled as his father tickled him.

He entered his bedroom and sat Sherman on edge of the bed and turned on the light on his bed stand. He walked over to his desk and unlocked one of the drawers with a key. He pulled out two documents and brought them over to Sherman.

"Aside from you, these are my most precious possessions. Do you know what they are?" He asked.

Sherman shook his head.

"This…" he said as he held one up. "Is your birth certificate Sherman. They had to MAKE one for you special when I adopted you because you were found in a box. We had no idea who your parents were"

"This one…" He held up the other. "Is my 'promise' Sherman. Do you know what this one is?"

Sherman shook his head again.

"This is your adoption certificate, this document states that I am your legal guardian, that I have the right and responsibility to feed you, take care of you and protect you….And I do NOT intend on breaking that promise. Do you understand?"

Sherman smiled. "Yes"

"Good" Peabody smiled, kissing Sherman on the forehead and returning to the desk to lock the documents away again.

He came back. "Are you feeling better?"

Sherman frowned and shook his head. "Can I sleep with you…just for tonight?"

"Of course you can" Peabody replied with a gentle smile.

He fixed the bedsheets from when he had rushed out and then got into them, opening the covers so Sherman could slip in. He scooted closer to Mr. Peabody and cuddled up to his side. He began running his hands through Mr. Peabody's fur, enjoying the feeling on his hands and Mr. Peabody's scent. Peabody made no move to stop him, but found he rather enjoyed it himself. Sherman put an arm around Peabody's side in a hug. Peabody reached over and flipped off the light. He put a protective arm around Sherman and laid his chin on top of Sherman's head.

"I love you Mr. Peabody" He heard from the darkness.

"I ….have a deep regard for you as well, Sherman" was all he could say.

"Goodnight Mr. Peabody" Sherman said, falling into a deep peaceful sleep, finally comforted by the knowledge that his father was nearby, and that he shouldn't be plagued by any more nightmares, not with his father around to chase them away.

"Goodnight Sherman" Peabody whispered, smiling, glad to know his son wouldn't have any more nightmares.


End file.
